Note: I am overseas at the moment and will not have any internet. This is a guest post by Michael A. Coughlin. His blog can be found HERE.
Previously, we looked at our need to presuppose the inerrancy, sufficiency and infallibility of the Bible when we open air preach in order to faithfully proclaim God’s good news. In this post, let’s look at some key areas of preparation.
For each preacher specific preparation may look different. Some folks are more comfortable with a prepared ‘sermon’ to preach in the open air, some preachers may even read the text from a tract, and others cheerfully preach with no notes or sermon. These types of preparations are optional and stylistic, meaning that there is no one size fits all approach.
But EVERY man who aspires to open air preach ought to have certain godly disciplines. The man who is daily in the Word and prayer is the only man qualified to stand (anywhere) on the street and herald for Christ. It doesn’t matter if you have a pre-written manuscript; if you are missing these basic habits of the Christian life, you are not qualified to preach.
What I am saying is this: Unless you are first being a good Christian, you are not prepared to be an open air preacher.
If you are not in the Word and prayer, you are in danger of violating God’s will. We are hypocrites if we stand on the street exhorting people to repent of sin because of the impendingjudgment, yet we ourselves do not love the Lord enough to search His Scriptures daily!Our lives ought to be examples for someone converted under our ministry to imitate.
There is physical preparation too. Have your stuff ready: your amp, your throat lozenges, your soapbox, water bottles, honey and lemon tea, whatever you need. Do voice exercises and bodily exercise to increase your stamina and help you to breathe easily. If you are tired and out of breath after a few minutes of preaching, how will you reach as many as you could by preaching 1 hour? Be wise! Know the local laws concerning amplification and what is public property.
Be prepared, in season and out, to herald the full counsel of God, respond to good questions that teach people, and to handle people in a respectable way.
In the next post we will look at practical pointers for our relationships to people in our open air preaching.
The Domain for Truth 